Quasi in rem

Quasi in rem jurisdiction is a way to get in personam jurisdiction by attaching property to a lawsuit at the time it is filed. This technique is especially useful when getting standard in personam jurisdiction is difficult.

Example: You want to sue Bob, an out of stateresident, because he owes you $500. So, in personam jurisdiction is dicey. However, it turns out that Bob owns a vacationhome in the state you want to sue in. At the time you file the lawsuit against Bob, you attach his vacation home to the suit. Because the law assumes that attachment of property lets a person be subject to jurisdiction, you have a "hook" to get Bob. This kind of jurisdiction is discussed in Pennoyer v Neff . Note though that this kind of jurisdiction was essentially eliminated by the Supreme Court decisions in Int'l Shoe and Shaffer v Heitner.